PSYA4 Negative effects of computer games

One positive effect is helping behaviour as research has shown that playing prosocial games can increase helping behaviour.

Greitmeyer + Osswald demonstrated that participants who played prosocial video games displayed significantly more prosocial behaviours than those who played aggressive ones.

Another effect is games that involve other people as they offer the possibility of social outcomes.

Kahne found that the majority of people who listed Sims as their favourite game had learned about problems in society.

Gonzales + Hancock argued that facebook walls can have a positive influence on our self-esteem because feedback on them by others seem to be over-over-whelmingly positive.

A02

Gretmeyer + Osswald suggested 85% of video games possess some kind of violence. Therefore, although the content of prosocial behaviour can cause shifts in behaviour, people who play video games are less likely to experience this type of behaviour

However, there may be problems with the methodology, a problem for surveys for game research concerns the lack of control for young people prior social activities thus, the studies lack validity.

There has been research into facebook as Walther claims that self-selection of information we choose to present, can have positive effects on our self-esteem.

Therefore, facebook can boost our self-esteem and have a positive effect.

Research by Durking + Barber found positive outcomes in 16 year old play computer games.

Measures of family closeness, activity involvement and friendship network were superior in game players than non-game players which implies that computers are a positive effect of adolescence.